For Chicago White Sox to finish the rebuild, timing is everything
Entering his sixth season as general manager, Rick Hahn is doing everything he can to change his bio in the Chicago White Sox's media guide.
Once again, the introductory sentence lauds Hahn for helping build the 2005 World Series champions and 2008 postseason team.
Whose those are both notable accomplishments, they came when Hahn was assistant general manager under Kenny Williams.
Since taking over as GM before the 2013 season, the White Sox are a combined 357-453 under Hahn. They've finished last in the AL Central once and finished fourth place four times.
Professional sports is a savage industry. While most general managers with Hahn's performance sheet would have been long gone, it doesn't work that way on the South Side. Under chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, the Sox have had only two GMs - Williams and Hahn - over the past 18 seasons. Williams, now the club's executive vice president, is in his 37th season with the organization.
It is rare to find loyalty like Reinsdorf's in today's business culture, but Hahn hasn't been feeling much heat during five straight losing seasons.
Instead, Hahn has been given a pass for the way the White Sox used to slap rosters together with ineffective veterans. And he actually scored big points with a disheartened fan base midway through the 2016 season, declaring the Sox were "mired in mediocrity."
Instead of leaving it at that, Hahn started doing something about it.
Two weeks after his uncharacteristic outburst, he traded veteran relief pitcher Zach Duke to St. Louis for outfield prospect Charlie Tilson and a long overdue rebuild was finally in motion.
Hahn then showed he really meant business at the 2016 winter meetings, trading Chris Sale and Adam Eaton on consecutive days.
"This path doesn't fit with how we have acted over the last several years," Hahn said after dealing Sale to Boston. "We've been in a more of a 'win now' and 'patch and play' type of situation. We feel the same frustration that the White Sox fans have felt over the last few years, where those plans may look good on paper or entering spring training make everybody feel optimistic. But they haven't played out the way everybody inside and outside of the organization anticipated."
On paper, Hahn got a great haul of young talent for Sale and Eaton, with current second baseman Yoan Moncada and top pitching Michael Kopech joining the White Sox from the Red Sox, and current starters Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez and pitching prospect Dane Dunning joining the Sox from the Nationals in the Eaton deal.
Hahn has made 11 trades since the 2016 winter meetings, acquiring 23 minor-league prospects.
Barren for years, the White Sox's farm system is now rated one of baseball's best with Kopech, Dunning, former Cubs prospects Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease, international acquisitions Luis Robert and Micker Adolfo, and draft picks Zack Collins, Alec Hansen, Jake Burger, Zack Burdi and Gavin Sheets.
Wisely, the Sox are not in a rush to harvest this impressive crop of talent.
Moncada joined the 25-man roster in July of 2017, followed by Lopez and Giolito. If the White Sox can add three or four more impact type prospects this year and again in 2019, they will be in good shape.
Patience is key in a rebuild, and Hahn said it's not easy but he's willing to wait.
"I think when we preach patience at this point, to an extent we're saying it to ourselves," Hahn said. "There's going to be a temptation … seeing players that are going to get you excited, and people are going to want to see them at the big-league level.
"We have to be patient with their development. There's still some finishing elements that have to happen at the minor-league level and then we'll bring them on when the time is right."
While he waits on the next wave of prospects to get finishing at-bats and innings in the minors, Hahn still has some work to do.
There is the June draft and, thanks to their 67-95 record last season, the Sox have the No. 4 overall pick.
Having already traded most veterans of value before and during last season, Hahn has to decide if it makes sense to move Jose Abreu and Avisail Garcia for more young talent before the July 31 nonwaiver deadline. Contractually, both players are under club control through 2019, so Hahn can wait even longer if he's still deciding on whether the 31-year-old Abreu and 26-year-old Garcia fit for the future.
"They're both special cases, and there are very strong arguments for them playing roles in 2020 and beyond," Hahn said.
If the rebuild continues tracking in the right direction - and the injury bug stops biting like it did this spring with Burger, Jimenez, Adolfo and Hansen - the White Sox should be in a position to add instead of subtract next off-season.
"When you start seeing us be aggressive to add more veteran talent to round out our roster, you'll know we've entered that next phase," Hahn said. "Over the next couple of winters, there's been a lot discussed already about how robust those free-agent classes may well be, and you may well see us be a little more active than we were this past off-season."
Vision for 2020
This could be the Chicago White Sox lineup in 2020:
Batting order
1 Yoan Moncada 2B
2 Tim Anderson SS
3 Eloy Jimenez RF
4 Matt Davidson 3B
5 Micker Adolfo DH
6 Nicky Delmonico LF
7 Gavin Sheets 1B
8 Zack Collins C
9 Luis Robert CF
Rotation
1. Lucas Giolitio
2. Michael Kopech
3. Carlos Rodon
4. Reynaldo Lopez
5. Dylan Cease
— Scot Gregor